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How to Skate a Bowl? – 5 Steps & Tips for Beginners

Fact checked by Michael Derosier

how to skate a bowl

Skate parks are the best places to visit when learning to skateboard. Not only do these spots provide an avenue to master several skills, but they also let you connect with your fellow skaters there.

Perhaps, the first obstacle you would notice entering a skate park is the bowl. These are broad recessed parts of the park where skaters glide down and up. Do you know how to skate a bowl?

Whether you do or not know, we’ll teach you how to ace this technique to build momentum for skateboard bowl tricks.

What to Prepare

skateboard-bowl tricks

Here’s what to secure before heading to the seams of a skate bowl.

  1. Bowl skateboard setupSkateboards with 56mm-60mm wheels ensure better cruising and stability. Also, consider using a standard double-kick or mini cruiser skate deck.
  2. Safety gear – You need a helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, and wrist guards.

Ways and Steps to Skating a Bowl

Ready to take your first skate bowl experience? Take these steps below.

Step 1: Knowing the fundamentals

skate-a-bowl-step-1

You don’t want to launch your skateboard down the bowl without knowing what to expect once you descend.

  • So, take your board down the ramp, push around, and feel the curves and ground of the bowl.
  • Still, in your skating position, practice basic carving in the bowl. This skill will help you succeed in riding this skate obstacle. So, glide around the bowl back and forth, like riding a half-pipe.
  • Bend your knees and pump against the ground to generate more speed in the bowl. It’s like the classic carving but no longer on flat ground, and your body’s perpendicular to the ramp and its transition.

Another difference with a skate bowl is you can generate momentum from three areas of the obstacle:

  • the flat ground to the ramp or wall
  • the corners of the bowl
  • and the skate’s transition down to the flat part

So, try to glide up the ramps of the bowl and down. Apply progression to your height until you’re ready to skate through the corners of the obstacle.

Step 2: Carving around the bowl’s corners

skate-a-bowl-step-2

You now know what the ground of the skate park’s bowl feels like. It’s time we level up your carving in this obstacle.

  • Push your skateboard, approaching your desired part of the ramp. Begin to bend your knees down and push the board down as you enter the ramp.

Note: it’s best to approach the ramp diagonally. It will give you upward and sideward momentum when carving.

  • Keep your body posture as it goes perpendicular to the walls of the bowl ramp until you begin to slide down. And when you do, you may add another pump on the way to the ground. It will add more momentum to your skateboard.

Note:

  • The diagonal approach may not apply to all skate bowls because their ramps aren’t equal in height. But you may still create trail patterns in your practice bowl until you master your curves and build more speed.
  • Other skaters also master pivoting before carving. This skill entails turning on a ramp after crossing the bowl’s radius. Pivots can be backside or frontside. But whatever technique you’re on, you’ll eventually master skating around the bowl with more speed.

Step 3: Plan your route

skate-a-bowl-step-3

So, what comes after knowing what to do after you launch and drop into a bowl? We plan our lines.

  • From your standpoint, check where you want to begin your routine.
  • Next, find the trail you want to drop in and carve on and the ramp wall you plan to approach.

Why is planning necessary? It will help us polish our route without tentativeness. It will also allow us to ace ramps more confidently and stably.

  • As soon as you have planned your trail, you’re ready to release from that coping, slide down the ramp, skate across the bowl’s radius, and carve on that opposing bowl wall.

Good Tips for Skaters

bowl-skateboarding

Here are important reminders to help you prepare for your bowl skateboarding routine.

  1. Observe – We believe skaters are courteous. While everyone wants to try and show off, not all skateparks can accommodate as many people in a skate bowl. Hence, learn to observe and be vigilant about other skaters taking their turn on the bowl. By then, you’ll have time to perform your routine.
  2. Consider official rules – Skate parks, especially private ones, have rules. It’s our responsibility to check on these every time we visit a skating park for the first time.
  3. Basics still help – If you can’t find your rhythm carving on the bowl, try doing it on a flat surface. It’s as if you’re pumping and gliding for the first time with your skateboard.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, there is always a perfect spot for you in a skate park. You can glide along ramps or grind through rails. Of course, you don’t want to miss diving with your skateboard on a bowl.

And now that you know how to skate a bowl, you have finally checked another obstacle. Remember to feel the bowl first, apply your carving learnings, and plan your entire trail. Only by then will you perfect that drop and glide.

And if you want a more wholesome experience, let’s be considerate to others, and they’ll return the favor.

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